sentience
/ˈsɛn.ʃəns/noun
sentience is spelled S-E-N-T-I-E-N-C-E: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 64,400th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sentience means “The state or quality of being sentient; possession of consciousness or sensory awareness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sentience is sentiences.
How many letters and syllables are in sentience?
| Letters | 9: S-E-N-T-I-E-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 64,400th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sentience?
Sentience appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 64,400th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sentience?
- /ˈsɛn.ʃəns/
- /ˈsɛn.ʃi.əns/
- /ˈsɛn.ti.əns/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sentience.ogg, En-us-sentience-2.ogg, En-au-sentience.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sentience
- sentiences plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sentience mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state or quality of being sentient; possession of consciousness or sensory awareness.
Wiktionary also records sentience as a common misspelling of another word in some uses; the senses above are its own.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sentience in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense state or quality of being sentient:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | conscience |
| German | Empfindungsvermögen |
| Portuguese | senciência |
| Spanish | conciencia, sensibilidad, consciencia, sentiencia (Fundéu), sintiencia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sentience come from?
From sentient, from Latin sentiēns, present participle of sentiō (“feel, sense”). Compare with sentence, its equivalent formation from Classic Latin sententia (for *sentientia).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).